Written Answers Wednesday 2 February 2011

Scottish Executive

Common Agricultural Policy

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a formal representation to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into the common agricultural policy.

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for its failure, as reported in The Scotsman on 20 January 2011, to make a valid submission to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into the common agricultural policy.

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place between its officials and representatives of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee regarding its inquiry into the common agricultural policy.

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive at what point it (a) became aware of the planned inquiry into the common agricultural policy by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, (b) sent its submission to the inquiry and (c) was told that the submission was invalid.

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken, or will undertake, a review of the proceedings that have reportedly resulted in a lack of formal representation by it to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into the common agricultural policy.

Richard Lochhead: Scottish Government officials received a communication from the House of Commons Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) on 7 December 2010 inviting us to submit written evidence to their Inquiry. Later that month we submitted "The Road Ahead for Scotland" a copy of the final report of the Inquiry into Future Support for Agriculture in Scotland which had been published the previous month. The Scottish Government has not taken a detailed formal position on the report’s recommendations at this stage pending further analysis and discussion with stakeholders. Government officials also arranged for Brian Pack the Inquiry chairman to give oral evidence to the EFRA Committee on behalf of the Inquiry.

  The EFRA Committee informed Scottish Government on 17 January 2011 that under its rules the Pack report has to be treated as "background information" rather than "evidence" because it is previously published material, and invited us to submit a statement written specifically for the Committee. That afternoon we confirmed to the Committee we would submit a written statement, which we did on 25 January.

  On 19 January, The Scotsman newspaper contacted the Scottish Government seeking clarification of the Scottish Government’s engagement with the EFRA Committee and received the information detailed above. Despite this information on 20 January, The Scotsman published an article claiming incorrectly that Scotland will not have any formal representation in the EFRA Committee’s inquiry.

  We understand the committee will take our statement as formal written evidence in addition to the background information in the Pack Inquiry report and the oral evidence from Mr Pack.

Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will commence sections 1 to 13 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

Kenny MacAskill: Sections 1 to 13 and Schedule 1 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 establish provisions for the Scottish Sentencing Council. In light of the extremely tight financial climate, we are currently examining all the options for the establishment of a Sentencing Council, with a view to reducing the costs associated with the Sentencing Council (as estimated in the Financial Memorandum for the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill). It is not the intention to commence the provisions prior to May 2011.

Flood Prevention

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding commitment it will provide to local authorities for schemes where a flood prevention order is granted.

Roseanna Cunningham: Under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961, which was revoked on 24 December 2010 with the coming into force of Part 4 of the Flood Risk Management Act 2009, flood prevention schemes became eligible for flood prevention grant on confirmation by Ministers subject to meeting certain criteria. There are no equivalent provisions for flood protection schemes under the 2009 act.

  Instead, the Scottish Government provides grant funding to local authorities through the provision of a General Capital Grant. Local authorities have the flexibility and freedom to determine how this grant is used to address local needs and priorities. The distribution of the General Capital Grant includes an element which reflects the need for local authorities to fund flood prevention and coast protection schemes.

  COSLA has agreed the way the General Capital Grant is currently distributed. To ensure the needs of future flood prevention schemes are reflected in future distributions of the General Capital Grant a review of the flooding element will shortly be undertaken in partnership with COSLA.

Flood Prevention

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how the funding that it provides to local authorities for flood prevention schemes compares with the 80% of eligible costs provided by the previous administration.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government provides grants to local authorities to fund capital investment as a General Capital Grant. Local authorities have the flexibility and freedom to determine how this grant is used to address local needs and priorities. The distribution of the General Capital Grant includes an element which reflects the need for local authorities to fund flood prevention and coast protection schemes. This distribution reflects the need to provide funding for a list of agreed schemes receiving an allocation based on 80% of the cost identified at the time the 2007 settlement was agreed. A further sum is allocated to all local authorities on the basis of known flooding risk.

  COSLA has agreed the way the General Capital Grant is currently distributed. To ensure the needs of future flood prevention schemes are reflected in future distributions of the General Capital Grant a review of the flooding element will shortly be undertaken in partnership with COSLA.

General Practitioners

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38740 by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 January 2011, how many GP practices now have premium rate telephone numbers.

Nicola Sturgeon: The answer was given in question S3W-38740, there are 40 GP practices with premium rate telephone numbers.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how the £70 million Change Fund is to be distributed.

Shona Robison: The Change Fund has been established using a portion of the NHS uplift flowing to Scotland from the UK Spending Review. It will be distributed, subject to submission of appropriate Partnership plans, through NHS boards as part of the 2011-12 allocation, using a formula calculated using a composite of the following two distributions on a 1:1 ratio:

  NHS National Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) distributions for Community Care Programme, based on board populations for the 65+ age group, and

  The local authority Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) distributions for older people’s services, including Free Personal and Nursing Care.

  The allocations for each Partnership area across Scotland have been set out in Guidance distributed jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA to Partnerships on 23 December 2010. The allocations are reproduced in the following table:

  

NHS Board
Partnership
£ Million


Ayrshire and Arran
East Ayrshire
1.648


 
North Ayrshire
1.960


 
South Ayrshire
1.890


 
 
5.498


Borders
Scottish Borders
1.729


Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway
2.561


Fife
Fife
4.899


Forth Valley
Clackmannanshire
0.593


 
Falkirk
1.885


 
Stirling
1.156


 
 
3.634


Grampian
Aberdeen City
2.738


 
Aberdeenshire
2.837


 
Moray
1.187


 
 
6.763


Greater Glasgow and Clyde
West Dunbartonshire
1.209


 
East Dunbartonshire
1.218


 
East Renfrewshire
1.116


 
Glasgow City
7.918


 
Inverclyde
1.228


 
Renfrewshire
2.109


 
 
14.799


Highland
Argyll and Bute
1.710


 
Highland
3.425


 
 
5.135


Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
3.838


 
South Lanarkshire
4.021


 
 
7.859


Lothian
East Lothian
1.256


 
Edinburgh, City of
6.013


 
Midlothian
0.976


 
West Lothian
1.501


 
 
9.747


Orkney
Orkney Islands
0.321


Shetland
Shetland Islands
0.328


Tayside
Angus
1.691


 
Dundee City
2.232


 
Perth and Kinross
2.273


 
 
6.196


Western Isles
Eilean Siar
0.531


Scotland
 
70.000



  The guidance, available at www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/health/care/reshaping requires all partnerships, by 28 February 2011, to prepare and submit change plans setting down how their allocation will be used to achieve a shift in the balance of care. We will work closely with partnerships to develop these plans.

Health

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many under-18s sustained sports-related injuries in 2009-10 and how this compares with the European Union average per head of population.

Nicola Sturgeon: Complete data on the number of people of who have sustained sports-related injuries in Scotland is not collected centrally.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38871 on 2 February 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Health

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to further develop Scotland’s sports-injury reporting system.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the termination of statistical reporting by the UK-wide Home Accident Surveillance System and the Leisure Accident Surveillance System in 2003, for what reason Scotland has no official body that collates injury statistics, including for sporting activities.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government is currently funding ISD to run a project which will gather relevant data on injuries presenting through accident and emergency (A&E) services in Scotland in order to develop a better evidence base on the size and nature of the problem of both intentional (assaults) and unintentional injuries. This data gathering is seen as an essential first step before considering what measures might need to be taken to address the issue of injury reduction. The 18-month project started on 1 July 2010 and is anticipated to end in December 2011.

  Data will enable the breakdown of the figures by age, gender, location injury occurred and type of accident (i.e. fall, or burn etc), activity when injured and social sector (using deprivation categories). Place of injury and activity when injured will make it easier to identify sports injuries presented through A&E services in future.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how patients requiring diagnosis and treatment for (a) infertility, (b) mental health issues and (c) drug addiction will be assisted by the EU directive on cross-border healthcare

Nicola Sturgeon: The Cross-border Healthcare Directive codifies existing European case-law, established over the last 10 years or so, which has determined that EU citizens’ have the right to travel in the European Economic Area (EEA) to receive healthcare services that are the same as, or equivalent to, services provided by their home state healthcare system and to be reimbursed on their return.

  The directive is not designed around particular health conditions. Therefore, any assistance that Scottish patients might derive from the directive will depend on their personal circumstances, the specific treatment or services they wish to access, and whether they meet the relevant criteria for reimbursement. This will be limited to the amount the healthcare would have cost the NHS had it been provided at home, or the actual cost if that is less.

  Under the terms of the directive, before travelling in the EEA to obtain health services, Scots seeking treatment that includes hospital care; specialised care; or expensive diagnostic equipment will require a referral by their general practitioner (as the gate-keeper to secondary care) and prior authorisation from their NHS board. The decision on whether or not to grant prior authorisation will take into account prevailing factors including: medical need, whether the board provides the diagnosis and treatment and on what basis, and its availability.

Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to deliver more flexible service hours for healthcare services since 2007.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government introduced two Directed Enhanced Services, Extended Hours Access for GP Practices and Nursing Provision for Extended Hours Access released on 1 April 2008 and 25 June 2008 and these are currently ongoing.

  These services provided financial support for GP practices to provide pre-booked appointments to their patients outwith the recognised core hours of 8.00am to 6.30pm.

  In addition, many GP practices demonstrated flexibility by running weekend clinics during 2009 and 2010 to deliver the pandemic and seasonal flu vaccines.

NHS Finance

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what efficiency savings NHS Tayside has forecast it will have to make in 2010-11, expressed as a percentage.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Tayside has forecast efficiency savings of £30.0 million, equivalent to 5.0% of the board’s baseline allocation.

NHS Finance

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether each NHS board has an estate management plan.

Nicola Sturgeon: Each NHS board in Scotland is currently engaged in the development of a Property and Asset Management Strategy (PAMS) which is a mandatory requirement of the Scottish Government Health Directorates A Policy for Property and Asset Management in NHSScotland , issued under cover of CEL 35 (2010) on 27 September 2010.

  Prior to the issue of CEL 35 (2010) each NHS board was required to has an agreed Property Strategy under NHS MEL(1999)44 "Property Management Policy and Other Matters" issued on 5 May 1999.

NHS Finance

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether each NHS board has a plan to tackle the finding of the Audit Scotland report, Asset management in the NHS in Scotland, that there was a £512 million backlog of maintenance in the NHS estate.

Nicola Sturgeon: In response to the Audit Scotland report Asset management in the NHS in Scotland , Scottish Government Health Directorates has issued NHS CEL 35 (2010) A Policy for Property and Asset Management in NHSScotland . A principal requirement of this policy is that all NHSScotland Holding Bodies must have a Property and Asset Management Strategy (PAMS).

  A holding body’s PAMS must include targets for improving physical condition, functional suitability and space utilisation of its essential property where that is considered necessary to achieve the policy aims of CEL 35 (2010) and to ensure continuing compliance. This should be expressed as targets for the following year, three years, five years and 10 years.

National Health Service

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it considers the NHS is sharing good practice.

Nicola Sturgeon: The NHS shares good practice through a range of general and topic specific mechanisms.

  The NHS event held annually, The NHS Education Evidence into Practice website and the annual NHS Awards contribute to the sharing of good practice generally.

  More specifically, national improvement programmes engage every NHS board to share good practice and test service innovation. These programmes include:

  The 18 Weeks Referral to Treatment programme,

  The Mental Health Collaborative,

  The Long Term Conditions Collaborative,

  The Scottish Patient Safety Programme and

  Releasing Time to Care in acute and mental health wards and in community hospitals.

  These programmes share good practice through a variety of channels, including education and network events, newsletters, good practice publications, case studies and through a supporting website http://www.improvingnhsscotland.scot.nhs.uk.

National Health Service

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has updated the guidance on the selling of NHS land and buildings.

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has updated the guidance on the use of disused NHS land or buildings.

Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Government Health Directorates is currently in the final stages of revising the NHSScotland Property Transactions Handbook . The revised guidance is expected to be published within the current financial year.

Scots Language

Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38364 by Michael Russell on 19 January 2011, whether it will provide the information that it holds regarding the funding of Scots language education in each year since 1990.

Michael Russell: There have been Scots language education initiatives since 1990, funded by Government or Scottish public bodies. The Scottish Government does not have a full list of these initiatives nor the funding attached to them.

  We provided Learning and Training Scotland with £690,500 in 2008-09, £690,500 in 2009-10 and £600,000 in 2010-11 to produce support resources for Literacy and Numeracy, of which Scots is part.

  Scottish Language Dictionaries received £200,000 and the Scots Language Centre received £70,000 in both 2009-10 and 2010-11. This was as a result the Scottish Government assuming responsibility for direct funding of these two organisations in February 2009, after its current allocations of funding from the Scottish Arts Council expired in 2009.

  We spent £19,500 on research costs for the Audit of Current Scots Language Provision in Scotland published in January 2009. We spent a further £16,900 on research costs for the Public Attitudes Towards the Scots Language survey which explored public perceptions of, and attitudes towards, the Scots language amongst the general public of Scotland, which was published in January 2010.

  The Scottish Government has provided the National Trust for Scotland with a grant of £8.6 million to develop £21 million Robert Burns Birthplace Museum which was officially opened on 21 January this year.